Actualités

Note: This LP does work with tangential turntables, as long as the movement of the system is not controlled by a feed motor. Recently I made myself an A/D-transfer of a TACET backwards vinyl record on the high end turntable “The Statement” together with the tangential tonearm “TT1” (both of Clear Audio). The story appeared in the latest Stereoplay edition (4/2018, German language) together with a demonstrating CD.

New CD release

The 3 CD box of W. A. Mozart's 6 string quintets (TACET 217) has gained a companion set: a similar box set of the same great master's 6 "Haydn-Quartets".

String quartets by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart without historical performance practice - is that even possible nowadays? -Of course it is! At the same time, there is probably no serious classical musician who has entirely escaped its influence in some shape or form. We are not just talking about diligence in choosing "urtext editions" or in the choice of instrument. The changes creep into the smallest details of phrasing which people simply can't do as they used to, even subconsciously. This is borne out by listening to many performances.

Of course the Auryn Quartet is also subject to these influences. If, despite this, their performances seem conventional, then it's deceptive as their playing style is no longer conventional when seen in the light of modern performance practice. They refer back to a playing style that could be termed "historical" in a wholly different way, namely that of a musical generation that has now died out. Their role models and teachers were the Amadeus Quartet and the Guarnieri Quartet. The members of the Auryn Quartet were musically "socialised" in a different era to younger musicians and they choose not to discard the aesthetic sensibilities acquired in their youth as though they were just old-fashioned garments. They love the beautiful "old" string sound and keep this tradition alive, but with the diligence expected of today's musicians. The result is timelessly beautiful music. The new recording of the 6 "Haydn Quartets" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart provides an impressive example of this.

It's been quite a while since Markus Schirmer visited Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Despite the considerable competition, the recording has received excellent reviews. Schirmer impresses with well-thought-out, succinct and precisely-measured effects, which are shown off to their best advantage on the Fazioli piano in the List Halle in Graz, Austria. In the process, he never lapses into cheap showmanship: he simply conveys the impressions triggered by the pictures themselves.

Actually, the recording should have appeared a while ago on LP. However, the delay has also had ist advantages: we can now offer it in TACET's famous reverse playback, which, with suitable music, offers a greater listening experience than was hitherto possible on vinyl.

The project Mare Balticum aims to present the medieval musical heritage of the Baltic Sea region in the 12th-15th centuries. It consists of four musical programmes, prepared in great detail, and employing the newest musicological, philological, historical and organological research. Each of these programmes presents the local character of a different coastal region of Balticum, ist specific historical and cultural situation, ist most important saints and rulers, and the Christian roots of the relevant country.

They provide an insight into the local literature and musical repertories of medieval Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Germany, and Poland; both Latin and the vernacular are represented, as well as the diversity of historical musical instruments used in those regions at the time.

The project as a whole, however, aims to show something of the strong political and cultural connections between those medieval countries, their development over time, and the similarities between them, all of which are essential to our understanding of the common identity and history of Balticum, as is reflected to us through ist centuries of music.

Agnieszka Budzińska-Bennett

As special guest we welcome Benjamin Bagby.

2017-11-22

New CD release

Although Beethoven's opus numbers extend to op. 135, there were no more piano sonatas after op. 111. There is, though, a variation cycle lasting almost an hour on a simple theme by Anton Diabelli. This astonishing cycle takes the listener into such distant moods, that even after the first variation it doesn't matter what the theme is, it is all so unmistakably Beethoven. Also on this disc, two cycles of "simple" piano pieces entitled "Bagatelles". Small, unimportant things, trivialities, which make you think involuntarily of much later romantic composers. And finally, the usually so self-critical Beethoven allocated his penultimate opus number (op. 134) to a "simple" piano score of the "Große Fuge" op. 133! So how does all this fit together?
Obviously, the scope of classical forms was too narrow for Beethoven. Did this apparent simplicity serve a wider purpose? The very last movement of the very last opus, the string quartet op. 135, is based on the text "Must it be? - It must be! " Was Beethoven in his last works pursuing an overall objective? Or did it all just happen like that? Find out now! You can find these last works for piano alongside each other on a double CD.

Just listen to the first few seconds of the "Große Fuge" with Ljupka Hadzigeorgiewa and Evgeni Koroliov. Succumb to the charm and allure of these two musicians, who lead us selflessly and confidently through this perplexing hiatus in musical history.

2017-09-15

New CD release

Evgeni Koroliov isn't the kind of musician who prefers to concentrate on previously unrecorded music. His specialty lies in discovering something new in well-known works. This is particularly true in this collection of pieces by Maurice Ravel. He immerses himself in the music without any extravagance, adding nothing to the score. Nevertheless, Koroliov always manages to make the music sound fresh to our ears. In Ma Mère l'Oye, Ljupka Hadžigeorgieva harmoniously completes this process of re-creation.

Over several years and several decades, Domenico Scarlatti composed a new sonata for his royal piano pupil practically each week. And so something gradually evolved that can justifiably be described as his life's work. But what does a life's work mean for us today? An immense number of sonatas, 555 in total. Their grandiose diversity and originality are only actually unlocked when, instead of consuming them en masse, you listen to just one a week. However you should then listen to this one sonata every day, just as Scarlatti originally intended. And in one fell swoop, your life is over! Can we really do them justice today? In view of this, mine and Christoph Ullrich's undertaking to stretch the production over 17 years seems appropriate. Besides this, at the same time, Christoph Ullrich is still working on other lifelong projects, such as his large-scale children's project “laterna musica” (formerly Earworm-Project). And so with our altered perception of time, we're battling to revive the past whilst remaining modern and curious in order to meet today's demands.

But the battle is worth it! What an adventure! Because who knows what'll come out of it after 17 years? What will the fingers and ears end up doing? Will there still be music at the end of it all? In all of his playfulness, craziness and childishness, in his cacophony of hand-crossing and sensuality, this cycle can also offer something very special compared to so many others: the realisation that doing more and more and doing it faster doesn't actually help. Composure in the face of the fact that our existence is finite.

So here are another two years of Christoph Ullrich's rigorous, beautiful and exhilarating work on Domenico Scarlatti. In some of the sonatas he is joined by guitarist Stefan Hladek. Volume 2 of 17, the longest of all: this time on 3 CDs instead of 2, but still for the price of one.

2017-05-22

All 9 Beethoven Symphonies on Vinyl - finally complete!

Since TACET re-entered the vinyl business back in 1999, barely 10 years after the supposed demise of the LP, they have ranked among the leading classical labels who continually delight their audiences with sparkling new recordings in this medium, claimed by many to be unsuitable for classical music.
And now this! All 9 symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven performed by Wojciech Rajski and the Polish Chamber Orchestra in the flawless complete recordings on LP. Rhythmically crisp, secure in intonation, snappy, elegant, sensual, exciting, always transparent - all the advantages of a modern interpretation of Beethoven on modern instruments are united here. The CD versions were miles ahead of the competition. The multi-channel versions on SACD and BluRay enjoy cult status.

Some of the symphonies already existed as "Tube Only" versions on LP. They are replaced here with new mixes that no longer originate from tube microphone, analogue tape recordings. Instead they offer other important merits, such as clearer details as a result of using more microphones. Further added benefits in production include half-speed - and/or backwards mastering, which TACET have been famous for since their Boléro recording. There are 40 years of vinyl know-how behind this release. More information can be found on the LP sleeves.

2017-04-14

New CD Release

Edition EigenArt

Ferdinand
Works for violin solo
by Alan Ridout, Carl Nielsen and J. S. Bach
Adrian Adlam, violinSpoken text in English

Ferdinand? Is that the man with the violin? No, that is Adrian Adlam. He is peace-loving, just like the protagonist of the eponymous piece - a bull, who doesn't want to enter the bullring. The children's book behind it was written during the Spanish Civil War and was banned by Mussolini and Hitler because of ist cleverly packaged criticism. To stand on stage alone with the violin, is reminiscent of the ancient tradition of storytelling: the narrator, too, had only his own voice which he used to captivate people. Adrian Adlam possesses the exceptional gift of conveying a story on several different levels at once. He speaks and plays at the same time, thus bringing both adults and children under his spell. And so the artistic director of the International Freden Music Festival once again displays his versatile virtuosity, as he does throughout the whole CD: Ridout stands alongside Nielsen, who stands alongside Bach. All lone heroes!

Compared with other formats, CDs are by far the bestsellers at TACET. Even the LP boom years of 2012-2014 didn't alter that. Currently, our high-quality multichannel recordings in TACET Real Surround Sound are gaining in popularity. Sales in this format had already exceeded those of LPs by 2015, and by 2016 they had surpassed them.
With TACET's multichannel sound, TRSS, it's not about image: it's entirely about sound. Every day, more and more people experience how, in a multi-channel recording from TACET, they needn't be positioned in one place as though they are nailed to their seat. It's comparable to the difference between stereo and mono: from any point in the room, not just from the optimum listening position, a good stereo recording will sound better than the same recording in mono. This is even more true of TACET Real Surround Sound. Even from the room next door it probably sounds better than the stereo version!

No wonder the number of curious and open-minded listeners is steadily increasing. Unfortunately, too many listeners still shy away from multichannel systems, whether due to lack of space, for financial reasons, the worry of buying the wrong components or of not being able to manage them.
We can help on the last point: we have provided a free guide at TACET's download page.

Here newcomers to Surround Sound can find hints to help them through the maze of possibilities. Proud owners of multichannel systems will enjoy sound improvements that are freely achievable with their system. No measuring devices needed, just your ears! With the freely downloadable files, you can determine whether the right signal is coming from each of the speakers. You can minimize differences in volume between the individual speakers in a 5.1 system or compensate for the different distances between each speaker and the listener. Or maybe we'll shed light on bass management. Best of luck!

The string quartet offers countless possibilities of interplay between the different instruments. If you add a fifth person to the mix, in this case the viola player, Nobuko Imai, with the Auryn Quartet, then it not only gives the whole sound a comparatively orchestral quality but also considerably increases the methods at the composer's disposal. These are just two reasons why Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's combination of 2 violins, 2 violas and a cello have become so well-loved. In TACET Real Surround Sound the many ingenious, refined and playful themes, the whole inexhaustible richness of Mozart's ideas are realised even more clearly.

The opulent and tragic KV 406 in C minor together with the pure, idealistic KV 515 in C major forms the first standalone SACD, the famous, sorrowful KV 516 in G minor with the early, exuberant and dramatic KV 174 the second disc, and the chirruping, mischievous KV 614 in E flat major with the mature and worldly-wise KV 593 in D major the third.In as far as these characterisations say anything at all about the music, it is only about the opening of each piece. Each movement is distinct and different. Every quintet tells ist own great story.

Out now is the first SACD of a set of three in TACET's complete edition.